Facebook F8 Developer Conference will take place as an online event on June 2

Facebook has announced that its annual developer conference will be called F8 Refresh and will take place as a one-day online event on June 2. Last year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the F8 conference was canceled.

Over the years, F8 has grown in size and scope, attracting around 5,000 people annually. It looks like Facebook is planning a more modest conference this year. The source says there will be no talk from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg this year. Instead, the company will be represented by Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, vice president of software and platform development, who will give an opening speech and announce some new products.   

“ F8 has always brought together an incredible community of people who create and innovate. Over the past year, our developer community has fueled the growth of businesses of all sizes, helping to adapt to a changing world and accelerate their digital transformation. In recognition of this, we want to go back to the origins of F8, a place to celebrate, inspire and help developers grow, ”wrote Mr. Papamiltiadis on his blog.

It is difficult to say which topics will be the main ones at the future conference. Currently, the most pressing questions for Facebook are related to plans for further growth in emerging markets, the feasibility of launching analogs of new popular services like Clubhouse, diversification of its own business model beyond advertising, etc. Such a huge and influential company will have something to talk about talking to developers in any case. It may well turn out that instead of major launches and announcements, Facebook will pay more attention to its own ecosystem and the developers within it.